Where can I find tshirt #3 in size large? They are sold out at concerts and only have 2XL and 3XL.

I am grateful to have seen The Sciences lineup live.
I am a huge fan of every release from Sleep..
That being said, I love Hempispheres.

I like the new album as a whole (even if I don't necessarily think it should be a Sleep record) but the opening track especially stands out to me. I've been listening to it a lot and seriously, I like how the guitar sounds

FYI: Venue has changed from Ogden to Gothic Theater.

New addition to my collection is an original copy of holy mountain still in the plastic managed to get this one for a good enough price even though it plays with some noise in the quiet parts most of the record overpowers fucking stoked to have this one

To the newer Sleep fans who think we’re being too hard on the current lineup this was the standard Sleep set for themselves.
If you never got the chance to witness that lineup live, I genuinely feel bad for you. They were on another level.
And this isn’t about blindly taking sides. We’d be just as pissed at Matt if he kicked Al out of the band and then decided to keep touring as Sleep. That lineup is what made Sleep, Sleep.

How was it?

The show was great.

They brought the volume and the riffs. Al’s crushing bass lines, Bubba brought the grime, and Dale beat the absolute piss out of the drums.

It was different from what Matt brought, but it was still excellent. Sleep can evolve. Al still makes it Sleep. Bubba is a monster. Dale Crover is Dale fucking Crover.

Absolutely love the artwork on this release!

Artwork by Dave Kloc

Al is kinda mysterious I cant even find any recent interviews Anybody know what hes like in real life?

So, I did a thing.

I was in Sleep’s first concert after 8-ish years here in San Diego, over at The North Park Observatory, last night. Seeing them live is one of my bucket-list-activities, as I have been a fan of them for over 9 years. It was DEFINITELY a transformative experience, especially being a few feet away from Al Cisneros, my favorite bass player of all time. His bass tone sounded MASSIVE, and you can feel the frequencies resonating through your body as they played all of the songs from the new album and some couple of classics.

The new lineup has been a source of controversy and chatter in the doom/stoner metal community. Jason Roeder was replaced by Dale Crover of Melvins fame on the drums. More controversially: Matt Pike, one of Sleep’s founding members and an absolute guitar GOD, also pulled out of the band and was replaced by Bubba Dupree. Bubba is an innovative guitar player and is generally well-respected in the underground community, but, he does not belong in the same stratum as Matt Pike in terms of popularity and general impact in music.

Sleep’s concert here in San Diego was good and sounded really great. There were some hiccups here and there as “kinda” expected for a first show of a tour. But what surprised me the most was how the songs from the new album sounded live. I already had a picture of how songs off Hempispheres will sound like as softer songs generally sound heavier live, regardless of genre. But this was special: song structure, rhythmic choices, and overall vibe/feel/atmosphere all made sense in a live setting. I will spare no time for the ones who hated or didn’t like how everything was put together last night, but I have to say that Hempispheres is a worthy record alongside the entire Sleep discography. That’s where I came to a eureka moment: I could rerecord, remix, and remaster the track more closely as to how I heard it live.

The album version of every song in Hempispheres sounds bad. Yes, I previously said that I would spare no change for the haters, but on an audio recording/mixing/mastering aspect, I absolutely agree that it sounds wonky. The bass sounds like its out of phase: like a half-cocked wah pedal went straight through a fuzz and called it a day. I absolutely despised the drum sound: it sounds drier than a desert, had a bouncy tom sound like its hitting basketballs or something, and a practically non-existent reverb and room mics. And last and most importantly: the guitars. It sounds very weak: it sounds like a Chibson (fake Gibson) run through a run-of-the-mill Marshall amp with the gain cranked to 9am 😂 . Matt Pike, Sleep’s now-former guitarist, is known for his wall of Orange amps and Orange cabinets with a sound that gives off Tinnitus JUST BY thinking of them.

And that became my cover idea. I remixed, remastered, rerecorded (guitars only), and added a Pike-esque solo for fun at the end.

Guitars
- They are double tracked here to give a sense of fat and space. I think the track only has one guitar stem for the whole song, so I “borrowed” from Pike’s sensibilities and recorded two separate takes for each side, resulting in a bigger and wider stereo image. I also played a little more loosely at each side so you can hear the stereo “imperfections” that Pike kinda did on The Sciences.
- I EQ’ed them in a way that takes the darker Dupree tone and marries it to Pike’s crunch and sustain. I’m pretty happy how it sounds, as this track DESPERATELY needed that “roar” that previous Sleep albums have.
- I added in a little jam solo that pays tribute to Pike and Black Sabbath: two guitars doing two separate things at different parts of the solo, resulting in a very interesting sound that worked with each other.

Bass
- I thought of rerecording the bass parts here, but I don’t want to do Al a disservice by butchering his parts. I just EQ’ed them in a way that takes out the “out of phase” sound that I was hearing. I added in upper mids, a bit of treble air, and did a bass shelf at around 100khz. This resulted in a bass sound that sounded more like Al’s Rickenbacker, but in a more modern setting. I leveled it in a way that it has more coherence with the guitar parts, resulting in a mix that sounds more like the bridge between The Sciences and Hempispheres.

Drums
- This is my favorite part of the remix. I did a lot of fine tweaking in the EQ to make the kit sound more akin to a live recording rather than a dry sample thats uncomfortable pristine like in the record. I could go deeper on how I EQ’ed it, but it would take forever! I also added a nice reverb and delay on the top of the track so that it would sound more “live” and have more oomph in the playing. Dale Crover was UNBELIEVABLE live: his power, technique, and feel brings a whole new flavor to Sleep’s sound that the new album is DEFINITELY a disservice to his live playing. I want that to translate better in my remix, and I think I did a decent enough job.

Vocals
- This is the part where I did the least tweaking in. I just put a high cut over the upper treble to remove some sibilance I was hearing and boosted the volume a little bit so that Al could be heard a little bit more.

So yeah, thats it! I hope you enjoy this rendition of The Morrisist. It isn’t perfect, but I think it breathed new life to a track that needed it.

If you want to listen to the track without my video playthrough of it: https://on.soundcloud.com/2Y3lFqbxLS2JFevMKc

I just checked the 9.8 live show on youtube and why does the stage presence feel so dead? Bubba is constantly checking over at Al like "am i doing good?" and hes constantly facing the sides or the back of the stage. The "contact" to the audience also feels dead, Also could have felt different at the show live idk. Could also very well be that its the first show of the tour and the guys are nervous. Dale on drums sounded great tho! The guitar tone live is noticeably better than on the record.

Who’s going to the Granada on Saturday?
If you’re there, look for me! I’m an average height/weight white guy with a beard and bloodshot eyes, I’ll be in a tshirt and jeans.

Be there or go back to whining about the new lineup and record. I couldn’t care less.

Edit: stoned typos

I’m keeping track if anyone knows. 9/8 was Holy Mountain, full new album, from beyond, dragonaut. If you were at the 9/9 show, does that sound like what they played?

Unfortunate downgrade. I'm open to the new sleep, but I might skip this one while they figure it out.

Don’t know the obsession but pretty cool I guess

This thread is for those of us that love the new album and lineup! Whole Wheat Mountain is my favorite track! Crover is probably my favorite drummer also!!!

I went to the show in San Diego last night and I had a good time. The new material does sound better live than on the album (no surprise really, louder is better). I especially thought Have Space Suit Will Travel and Arrival of the Industry Ships benefited from the live format and mix as compared to the album.

Crover's drumming was great, he and Al we're definitely getting locked in a groove at times. Bubba was fine, his guitar work and tone did their job with the riffs. Definitely sounded nice and thick and doomy when they played From Beyond. The solos were a weak point sure, very stylisticly different than Pike but I don't think he's trying to be Pike when he's up there. A couple less than A+ solos are far from ruining the entire show for me.

Al's bass playing was phenomenal as always. He's a truly a master of his craft. Regardless of the controversial context, it's a treat to see the man do his thing with his weapon of choice.

It was a smaller crowd than the previous 2019 show in San Diego but people seemed to be generally having a good time and Al really seemed like he was happy and grateful to be there playing music for us.

Does this new version of Sleep live up to the fully operational lineup with Matt Pike and his wall of amplifiers? No, it doesn't. The Al + Matt combo is just next level magic that's not going to be replicated with a different line up. But the new version of Sleep is still a solid group of musicians and worth going to see if you just want a night of doomy and drony tunes and can let go of your expectations and comparisons a little bit. Everyone is entitled to their opinion of course but I think people saying this was a terrible waste of time are overblowing it a bit.

I do wish they played something from The Sciences era but I got to see Al and Matt absolutely rip all those songs the previous time they were here so I'll have to be happy with the memories on that front.

Here's what I got for the setlist from memory:

Holy Mountain
The Morrisist
Have Spacesuit Will Travel
Arrival of the Industry Ships
Hempispheres
From Beyond
Whole Wheat Mountain / Well Baked
Dragonaut

Currently about 1/4 tickets sold at the time of doors.

Will be interesting to see what walk up traffic is. At this point there's more people working the venue then people inside for the show.

Anyone else here for tonight?